PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Ion Udroiu TI - Estimation of erythrocyte surface area in mammals AID - 10.1101/012815 DP - 2014 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 012815 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/12/16/012815.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/12/16/012815.full AB - Measures of erythrocytes volume and surface are helpful in several physiological studies, both for zoologists and veterinarians. Whilst diameter and volume are assessed with ease from observations of blood smears and complete blood count, respectively, thickness and surface area, instead, are much more difficult to be obtained.The accurate description of the erythrocyte geometry is given by the equation of the oval of Cassini, but the formulas deriving from it are very complex, comprising elliptic integrals. In this article three solids are proposed as models approximating the erythrocyte: sphere, cylinder and a spheroid with concave caps. Volumes and Surface Areas obtained with these models are compared to those effectively measured.